In a multimedia age, it’s surprising that so many artists still insist that “it’s all about the music”. As if that had ever been true in popular music even before Elvis wiggled his hips. But few rock acts since Slipknot have managed to make their image and attendant mythos such a big part of their appeal as Ghost.
Eight years after their mysterious lineage of masked, satanic antipope frontmen, Papa Emeritus (and his successors Papa Emeritus II, III and IV – the latter initially known as Cardinal Copia; do keep up) was revealed to be masking Tobias Forge (ceremonial mitre hats off for managing to keep it so secret even up to that point), their gloriously theatrical narrative is pulling in more punters than ever. Sixth album Skeletá is led by new figurehead Papa V Perpetua, promising to bewitch still-growing audiences on an impending world tour taking in New York’s Madison Square Garden.
